Leicester City’s Kasper Schmeichel opens DMU’s Watershed building

Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel officially opened the refurbished Watershed Building at De Montfort University, last Friday. The building includes more sport and leisure facilities that will be used by the university’s sports clubs and societies.

The ground floor of the building which was formerly a youth club will now be used by DMU sports societies like rowing, five-a-side football, badminton, netball, basketball, indoor hockey, indoor cricket and volleyball. Additionally, the second floor can be utilised by other societies for meetings or gatherings.

Schmeichel entered into the reception area of the building where the Watershed was officially opened, by revealing a plaque with the buildings name, certifying that he had opened the building on the 30th November.

A small group of students, along with children who play for a local football team made their way to be seated for a question and answer session which was moderated by DMU professor on the History of sport, Martin Polley.

Polley covered several topics throughout the session including the City players famous Premier League title winning season with Leicester City, how he prepares for an upcoming game and his time with the Danish nation team at 2018 men’s World Cup.

After opening the new building at DMU, Schmeichel secured his 100th clean sheet for Leicester City against Watford in Saturdays 2-0 win against the Hornets.

Key Quotes from Kasper Schmeichel’s Q&A

On what he wants his next achievement to be at Leicester City…

In the time I’ve been here (Leicester City FC) we’ve been used to winning. First the championship, then the Premier League. So, for me personally I would love to win the FA Cup, I would love to win the Carabao Cup, I think the league probably unrealistic this year. But I would love to do something like that.

On why he likes being a goalkeeper…

Because it is the position that in my opinion is the hardest to play in, the one with the most responsibility. It’s the one where if you make a mistake, it will cost the team and I like that responsibility, I like that kind of pressure.

His impression on Leicester City Football Club when he joined in 2011…

It was different, very different. I came from Leeds and Leeds as everyone knows is a very big club, but Leeds itself was going through a transitional phase and probably still going through a transitional phase. But it was a phase, where a lot of players where coming in and out of the door and it was difficult for the fans to, I think welcome the players. I never felt at home there, it was a strange kind of feeling, I never felt welcomed there. From the moment I walked in here (LCFC) I felt welcomed and I felt needed. From the moment I met Khun Vichai and Top the way they welcomed me, the way the fans welcomed me, the way club kind of portrayed itself was a club that wanted to go somewhere. But they had the infrastructure, the backing of the fans, the backing of the owners. You never felt lonely. There were times at Leeds, where you felt very alone and having had that experience and to come here was such a motivating thing.

On the point he thought Leicester City will win the Premier League in 2015/16 season…

I think there were two point for me. One was when we won away at Swansea to be top at Christmas, who were beaten 3-0 quite convincingly. And then beating Manchester City away 3-1, after that I know we weren’t giving that up. So those were the two main points for me, but there was just an inner calm an inner belief that what will be will be, no one was expecting anything of us, but we were expecting it.

On his opinion on campaigns like Rainbow Laces campaign in football…

I think any initiative to promote equality is good. I mean in football there must be someone and I hope one day they feel comfortable enough to share that and I think anything to get everyone involved and feel welcomed in sport is good.

On what he does to relax…

Well I’ve got two young children so there’s not a lot of relaxation, there a lot of running after them. But my main thing probably is cooking, I enjoy cooking, I enjoy making food, I enjoy watching shows about that, that’s probably one of the random things. I enjoy driving, so yeah that’s probably the two things I do the most.

On the Premier League’s fixture schedule…

I would much rather play every four days, that’s why we’re in football to play games. But for me I would love to play every day if I could. That was actually one of the hardest things to get used to, moving to the Premier League was when you come from the Championship that there you play Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday always. So, the hardest thing to get used to is playing Saturday, Saturday, so getting a full week where you have no games. So, it’s usually prepping for one game and recovering and prepping and its just rolls and rolls. Whereas now you actually how to make sure you don’t train too little or too much, you have to find the right balance. But for me I would like to play every single time I could, it’s a short career so get as many games as you can.

On how he deals with transfer rumours…

You’ve got to remember we know the truth, what you hear is speculation, they don’t know the truth. So, yeah, the difference is that we can actually focus on what is real. I switch of Sky Sports and seen things about me and think where has that come from who in gods name has said that, you know. So, for me I have the team around me who knows what’s going on and what’s real and what’s not, so I don’t listen to what the media write or doesn’t write, because I know the truth.

On if he every thought he could win the Premier League…

So, the way I grew up it was very normal to win the Premier League for some reason. The Premier League trophy has been in my house a few times, so it wasn’t something that was unnatural. It was always something that I thought I would do. It was always a goal of mine, an ambition I always had the inner belief that I would win it. So, it’s not until you start playing that you realise how hard it is and how much work goes into it. To have won it is amazing, but the whole thing, winning it yourself, give you so much joy and I want to try to do something like that again because the feeling is amazing. Having someone win it that many times, you know, I’ve got some catching up to do.

On what the Nations League means to him…

I think the British football public has a general scepticism that comes to any new idea in football. I personally like it, I think it’s been great because it gets rid of the friendlies where you have ten players taken off at half-time and you know it becomes a bit of a reserve game. For a country like Denmark, competing in the Nations League, we were in category B, but now in Category A and that means that we can now play against Category A teams where we can fill our stadiums and if we fill our stadiums that means that the whole national team gets paid for. So, it’s really, important for a nation like ours. In England maybe where there’s a lot more funding, there a bigger population, you can go and play and fill 90 thousand, whereas if we get 30, 40 thousand we’re really happy in a small country like ours.

On his future after football…

I chop and change all the time. At the moment coaching is appealing to me but who knows in 8- or 10-years’ time how I feel at the time. So, I think I keep my options open, football is very, very unpredictable. The last 6 weeks if it has taught me anything is that life is very unpredictable so for me, I’m not thinking that far ahead I’m thinking as they say these are the best days of your life, so enjoy them.

On knowing the late Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha…

Sometimes you need people at the right time of your career and at the right time of your life and I met Vichai at the right time of my life. He was someone who was so powerful in the club but also someone who you could really talk to and the way he interacted with not just his players but the coaching staff, all the staff around the stadium. He was a proper example of what a leader, you always knew what he wanted and expected, but were never pressured. He was a larger than life type of character and if you lost, he’d say we’re going to win the next one. You can see from the reaction of the people in Leicester, what we’ve lost, the type of man that we’ve lost. He’s come to Leicester, brought the club, never take money, or asked for anything back, he’s just give, give, give. He’s someone I aspire to be like.